Utility Week

6 | 6TH - 12TH DECEMBER 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Election 2019 Analysis T he past week has seen a mounting sense of urgency on tackling carbon emissions as delegates have converged on Madrid for the annual UN climate change talks. The grim warnings from scientists don't seem to have troubled the Conserva- tives, though, judging by Boris Johnson's no-show at last week's Channel 4 leaders' climate change debate. What was heralded as the highest pro- file opportunity for Westminster politicians to focus on the issues, descended into farce when cabinet minister Michael Gove turned up at the studio – complete with his own camera crew – demanding to be allowed to take part. Channel 4 declined, on the basis that the debate was for leaders only, and plonked a melting ice sculpture on the plinth where Johnson would have stood. The Con- servatives lodged an official complaint with Ofcom about the stunt. Johnson's absence may reflect a sensitiv- ity on the Tories' part that they have been outpaced on environmental and climate change issues over recent months. This reticence is strange, though, given that it was a Conservative government that last summer moved the motion for the UK to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Their general election manifesto, published last week, confirms this landmark pledge. It also opens up the possibility of move- ment on the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), where the government's existing tar- get of a 2040 phase out for selling diesel and petrol cars has been criticised for being too slow. The manifesto says a re-elected Con- servative government will consult "on the earliest date" that the sale of internal com- bustion engine vehicles can be phased out, with the caveat that the "impact on drivers and businesses" must be minimised. Don't mention the 'C' word… Despite championing net zero, the Conservatives are reluctant to engage on the climate change debate. David Blackman pores over their manifesto for clues about their commitment to a green agenda. The document reiterates an earlier Conservative campaign pledge to invest £1 billion on a fast-charging network so that all households are within 30 miles of a rapid EV charging station. This mooted Budget will also contain goodies for decarbonisation schemes, the first tranche of £4 billion-worth of funding for new flood defences, a Gigafactory for manufacturing batteries, and "clean energy". The manifesto confirms another earlier campaign pledge: to ramp up offshore wind provision from the existing target of 30GW by 2030 to 40GW. Carbon capture and storage Reiterated too is the commitment of £800 million to support the roll out of CCUS (car- bon, capture, use and storage) clusters in the 2020s, going some way to reversing the 2015 cancellation of a £1 billion project to pilot the technology. Patrick Hall, researcher at liberal Con- servative thinktank Bright Blue, welcomes the move but is cautious about putting too many eggs in the CCUS basket. "It's positive to see investment in that technology but we have to recognise that it's not a silver bullet," he says. Tim Yeo, former chair of parliament's energy and climate change committee, is more critical of the Tories' born-again faith in CCUS. "Nowhere in the world is there an economically viable form of CCUS: every scheme running requires a huge subsidy," he says. "To think it's going to make a big contribution in the 2020s is a complacent and dangerous assumption that nobody is challenging." Renewables generation is another area on which the Conservatives are placing too much emphasis, he says. "The growth of Will green votes deliver victory? How big a part can CCUS play? How quickly can we transition to EVs?

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